Roshni Nadar, the Executive Director & CEO of HCL Corporation, director of HCL Technologies and trustee of Shiv Nadar Foundation, is an inspiring woman at the helm in executive position of a giant Corporation with global presence. She has inherited not just the million dollar business empire of her dad, Shiv Nadar, founder and chairman of HCL, but also his love for the fellow beings.

Being born to high profile parents comes with its own sets of challenges. There was a huge benchmark set for her to perform by the onlookers. As an only child to the billionaire businessman, some of us may brush off her story as just a case of mere inheritance. But her commitment towards betterment of the world is really inspirational and praiseworthy. She is well aware of the privileges she enjoyed as a kid which many of the kids out in the world could not. She pays back by working constantly to touch the lives of children who are the pillars of the future. She enthusiastically oversees the project done by the family's philanthropic arm, the Shiv Nadar Foundation.

As a philanthropist...

Roshni Nadar is one of the foundation trustees of Shiv Nadar Foundation, one of India’s largest private philanthropic organisations committed to create long term sustainable institutions. For her and HCL Corporation, the Foundation is not just charity, but a long-term, committed social investment which outlives the founder and family members for years to come.

The Foundation today runs SSN Institutions, the transformational VidyaGyan Leadership Academies, the iconic Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, interdisciplinary Shiv Nadar University, the progressive Shiv Nadar Schools, the innovative Shiksha etc. Roshni chairs VidyaGyan, and aims to nurture future leaders from rural India who can act as catalysts of change for their communities, villages and the nation. This project is very close to her heart. She envisions it to be an aspirational platform for underprivileged meritorious students to dream big and achieve even bigger. She is also hopeful to see one of the alumnus of VidyaGyan as the prime minister and a few Nobel laureates for India. Institutions need a lifetime to realise their potential, she says.

Babson College has honored Roshni with the Lewis Institute 2017 Community Changemaker Award, to recognise her to have set something in motion in order to create positive change employing the Babson methodology of Entrepreneurial Thought & Action. She has also bagged many awards for her commitment towards her philanthropic initiatives.

Pre-HCL career life...

After her studies, Roshni could have easily asked for a posh office in the headquarters of HCL, the billion dollar company headed by her father. But Roshni is different. Media was exciting for her. She chose to do internship and work in this field for a while. After graduating from Northwestern University, this media and communication grad worked at Sky News UK for some time and then went ahead to pursue her Masters. She had previously done her internship with CNBC and CNN. These experiences have helped her see the world problems under better light. She took her own time to evolve as a person before coming to the spotlight as the next generation member of HCL.

HCL under her...

Roshni Nadar returned from US and expressed interest in joining the Corporation. At 27, she joined HCL, bringing in new energy and innovation and started to understand the business. She started off with involving with the corporation's treasury operations, in brand-building and the social initiatives and was slowly made part of the strategic decision-making process. Within a year, she was on boarded as the Executive Director and CEO of HCL Corporation. She was all of 28 then. Age is only a number and is relative in some sense! Coming from a non - tech background, she had a hard time understanding the jargons and the business of the Indian IT industry when she was inducted to the Board of HCL Technologies in 2013. But she left no stones unturned to pick things up quickly.

As the CEO and Executive Director of the $7.5 billion enterprise, Rashmi spearheads the business of the company and is responsible for strategic decisions regarding the overall direction of the organisation. Under her leadership, HCL broadened its horizons and ventured into new domains. HCL Healthcare and HCL TalentCare were born respectively in 2014 and 2015. Through this, Roshni is stepping out from her dad's shadow and is building something unique on her own. Roshni has set forth to extend the presence in the areas of economic growth.

HCL Corporation spread out its wings to health care field with HCL HealthCare. HCL TalentCare is an talent solutions company which makes graduates job ready for sectors such as IT, banking, insurance and healthcare by addressing the entry level employability needs in India. Step by step, HCL is expanding its balance sheet as well as the footprint.

Today, the young hotshot CEO of India’s fourth-largest information technology services company HCL Technologies is the “Plan Man” of the Corporation which generates annual revenues of over US $7.5 billion with more than 120,000 employees from 140 nationalities operating across 32 countries, including over 500 points of presence in India.

Personally...

Roshni is simple, well groomed and down to earth by nature. She joined forces with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation to promote education of Dalit and Muslim girls in UP. She is married to Shikhar Malhotra, who is also on the board of HCL Corporation and Vice Chairman of HCL HealthCare. They have two sons.

Juggling between the roles of a mom, wife, daughter and employer, Roshni enjoys travelling, music and yoga. She is a trained classical musician. This wildlife enthusiast enjoys going on safaris too. Roshni and her family are huge dog lovers. They have three dogs- Oreo and her two puppies. Oreo was a gift by their dog loving friends. Roshni and Shikhar lives in Delhi with their two kids and three dogs. She aces at maintaining a perfect work - life balance too.

Her dad is her biggest inspiration. Having varied interests from being an art collector to sports enthusiast, she admires her mother also for the person she is. Rashmi is also proud of her parents for letting her evolve on her own. Her parents are her mentors, role models and inspiration.

Education...

Having grown up in Delhi, she did her schooling in Vasant Valley School. Roshni graduated from Northwestern University, majoring in Communication with a focus on Radio/TV/Film and did her Masters from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management with a focus on Social Enterprise and Management & Strategy.

Awards and accolades...

Lewis Institute 2017 Community Changemaker Award by Babson College in 2017

Named as “Most Powerful Women in India Inc.” by Business Today in 2016.

The World’s Most Innovative People Award for Philanthropic Innovation by The World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship (WSIE), in partnership with the UN in 2015.

NDTV Young Philanthropist - Indian of the Year award in 2014.

Dean’s Distinguished Service Award, at Kellogg.

Named as one among the India's 25 most influential women.

Memberships and associations...

Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum

Director, HCL Technologies

Trustee, Shiv Nadar Foundation

Chairman, VidyaGyan

Quotes

I’ve been exposed to philanthropy through my parents over the last 20 years. But the start of my personal giving journey began in 2008, when I returned to India from the business school in the US. I remember being in a discussion about starting leadership academies for gifted children from rural India, and my whole point was that philanthropy aside, it would be a very exciting entrepreneurial venture for me, something I could do on my own. That’s how the journey really began.

To me, giving is much, much more than just charity or signing a cheque. We make long-term investments in people’s lives, through education and arts. I’m in this because I get to be a part of someone else’s life, someone else’s journey of becoming what they have the potential to become.

These children have been phenomenal in the amount that they’ve developed. And hopefully in my lifetime, one of the VidyaGyan students will be the prime minister of India – that would be exciting.

I can’t say to you, ‘I live in a country of 1 billion and I’m touching 2 million or 3 million lives.’ We don’t have fancy numbers to show, but I think we concentrate on depth of philanthropic impact and not breadth. - about the operations of Shiv Nadar Foundation.

I have been thrown into the ocean and now I have to swim. - on being asked about her feelings after joining HCL.